Thursday, September 21, 2006

Chavez Smells The Sulphur

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez smelled something in the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday:
VENEZUELA'S President Hugo Chavez has stunned the UN General Assembly with a speech in which he called US President George W. Bush "the devil" before crossng himself.

Mr Chavez infuriated US officials with his sarcastic presentation in which he said "yesterday the devil came here," referring to Mr Bush's speech from the same stage 24 hours earlier.

"And it still smells of sulphur today..."
He may have been right about the sulphur but wrong about the source.
He loves to cuss, gets a jolly when a mountain biker wipes out trying to keep up with him, and now we're learning that the first frat boy loves flatulence jokes. A top insider let that slip when explaining why President Bush is paranoid around women, always worried about his behavior. But he's still a funny, earthy guy who, for example, can't get enough of fart jokes. He's also known to cut a few for laughs, especially when greeting new young aides...
According to The Australian,
When asked about [Chavez's] speech, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she would "not dignify" the attack with a comment.

"It is not becoming of a head of state," she said.
Oh, right. I almost forgot. A head of state is supposed to act dignified.

I can remember when a head of state was supposed to be dignified; now it seems that even acting dignified is out of the question.

Robert Parry adds some context here: Bush's Disdainful Presidency.

The full text of Chavez' UN speech is here: Rise Up Against the Empire.

And now, if you'll excuse me, ...